Derbyshire school misses out on funding

Hopes for a new school at Alfreton have been dashed due to a lack of funding.

It was the plan at Alfreton Park Community Special School to build the new facility, however the project has not been awarded funding from the Priority School Building Programme.

Following the Government’s scrapping of the Building Schools for the Future project, the school was hoping to be selected to be part of the Priority School Building Programme in order that the necessary work could be carried out.

However, on 24 May Education Secretary Michael Gove announced that Alfreton Park Community Special School is not part of the £2billion project.

Head teacher of Alfreton Park, Rosemary Mackenzie, said: “We are very disappointed not to receive funding through this initiative. Our premises are not fit for purpose and we desperately need more space and better facilities to meet the needs of our young people.”

Rosemary continued, “We must find a way to get this essential work carried out, the classrooms and several other facilities such as the hydrotherapy pool are desperately in need of upgrading. Currently the school buildings are not conducive to being a productive or pleasant environment for the students or staff.”

The school is now lobbying local council officials and Nigel Mills, MP for Amber Valley, as Chairman of the school’s governors Francine Franklin explained: “We need to raise awareness of our plight so that we can get help to plan for the future and ensure that we can meet the complex learning and medical needs of the children and young people in our school.”